“Most of the people here don’t know Jesus Christ, and they’ll turn away from God forever because of his teaching methods and his preaching methods,” said student Brad Hinson, who identifies as a Christian.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois issued the following statement after the incident:

“The warm weather brings back to campus individuals who choose to use the University as a forum for personally held beliefs. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees this freedom of expression. As Chancellor of UNC Charlotte, I embrace the First Amendment as the ultimate guarantor of our own academic freedom. At the same time, UNC Charlotte does not in any way endorse or condone intolerant or hateful speech. To the contrary, we consider the words reportedly expressed by certain speakers near the Belk Tower to be hurtful, repugnant, and inconsistent with the university’s values and ideals.

While the Constitution requires us to allow even bigots a platform, it does not require us to give them an audience. I encourage all students and other members of the UNC Charlotte community to ignore those who spew hate and intolerance, that by so doing we will starve them of the “oxygen of publicity” on which they depend. By letting these individuals stand alone, we show them and the world that they stand apart from the principles, collegiality, and spirit that bind us together as a University community.

Events of this nature are monitored by our campus safety and security officials. Should we become aware of conduct that falls outside the limits of constitutionally protected speech, or if conduct disrupts regular university operations, we will investigate and deal with that conduct as appropriate and to the fullest extent that the law allows.”

13 comments

Shay

This isn’t new I graduated from UNCG and we had this every year where someone would come to the campus everyday when it was warm and tell us they we were all sinners for some little thing. It’s freedom of speech and at the end of the day nobody has to listen to it. After listening to one I learned to just walk by what is said isn’t true to me so it won’t bother me nor anyone else.

sucko

JT

There was a similar idiot like this who came through every spring semester when I was in college. I always thought he got his jollies looking at the sorority sisters in their shorts and short skirts while calling them sexist names–you know Jesus freaks and their double standards. I also thought the college was in on it, showing students the differences between science/reason/logic and superstition/mythology. Anyway, since 20% of Americans claim to have no religion or espouse no believe in a God, people like this will soon be a concourse oddity that we look back at and laugh.

People hate being confrontational and good for the students for sticking up for themselves. How else will this younger generation see how delusional the radical religious are in the US? It’s no wonder that according to the PEW Research Center in their study entitled “The Rise of the Nones”, 1/3 18-30 year olds consider themselves non-religious. That’s the highest in US history and if these trends continue, 40-50% of Americans will essentially be non-religious by 2045. People like the preacher are doing the campus a service, by exposing the students to this type of hate and bigotry, they question their own religious upbringing and many are choosing to see organized religion for what it really is.

Why ignore him? Never ignore hate or stand “neutral” to it, that only encourages them to continue on. Always doubt and question everything, even your own morals. This is the only way that society will continue to evolve. If trends continue, we will slowly find ourselves like other developed countries in Western Europe. Sweden is already 85% Atheist/Agnostic and you society would have you believe it’s a lawless, heathen infested, wasteland. On the contrary, their country is actually having to close prisons because crime has fallen so much while the US continues to build and stick to it’s “guns, god, and guts”. People say this is what has made America great, surprisingly, it’s also what makes terrorists. Who says you need religion or a god(s) to be a moral person? According to statistics, Atheists/Agnostics constitute 90% are Christian. You may think that “religious” equals “moral” but the statistics speak otherwise.

Give this preacher his time and day, and let us observe his insanity and study it so that future generations will not have to fight battles based on a 2,000 year old book written by middle eastern goat herders and voted upon by a group of Catholic men 1,000 years ago.